“But there are four sets . . .”
“What are you thinking?”
“Four people, each manning a nozzle. Dropped into the middle of a group, able to zap at will.”
“I don’t even want to contemplate the odds. And it might even work, except that the machine needs electricity to run, and a lot of it.”
Pulled my phone out and called Drax. “Gustav, the amazing helicarrier, can it do spaceflight?”
“Of course, what do you take me for?”
“Just checking. How fast can it fly? And by that, I mean is it up to the level of the latest spaceships to grace Earth with their presences?”
“Vata ships are all extremely fast. If you’re looking for a comparison, I believe the helicarrier is at least as fast as whatever the Z’porrah fly, probably faster.”
“Super. How quickly can you alter an existing machine to have its own power source? It needs a nuclear level of power, but it would be nice if the machine didn’t kill those wielding it.” Described the Killer Octopus, how it worked, and how I’d like it to work in the very near future.
“I’ll need to see it to be sure if it’s able to be altered, but the Vrierst could assist.”
“Excellent, make it so. And bring along any other aliens who might be able to help. Pronto.” Gave him our location and we hung up. “Now the issue will be to move it. That thing is hella heavy.”
“We were able to move it, though, since we have a lot of strong people,” Siler said. “One of whom is being called back to his post.”
Considered our options as Iron Maiden’s “For The Greater Good of God” came on. “Screw that. Come on.” Trotted back downstairs, Siler right behind me. “Chuckie’s right. We can’t leave this stuff lying around. Because we’re not going to be killed by the Aicirtap.”
This got me the room’s attention. “How are we not?” Tim asked, for everyone based on expressions. “I’m not against survival, mind you, but I’m not seeing a lot of options.”
Pointed to the Killer Octopus. “I am.” The air near me shimmered and Drax walked through the floater gate. He wasn’t alone. There were three Vrierst with him, swirling from manta to human, depending on how their personal winds were flowing. None of them bothered with introductions, they just headed for the machine.
“What’s going on?” Jeff asked.
“We have something that can zap someone into dust as easily as it makes living photocopies and, apparently, devolves your IQ. This is what Cliff was talking about when he said he could have saved everyone. He meant he’d use this machine. So, I want us to use it.”
“Who do you mean by ‘us’?” Jeff asked.
“Us. You, me, Nightcrawler, whoever else wants to handle the fourth nozzle.”
“We can’t allow that,” Reader said. “Jeff is the President—”
Put up the paw. Reader stopped talking. Was starting to love this power. Meaning I had to save the world or I’d never get to use it again.
“The President needs to lead. And that means he needs to protect his people. But more than that, in this case, Jeff is the King Regent of the Alpha Centaurion Empire. And since the Emperor himself came to rescue us during Operation Destruction, I’d say that precedent has been set. The good kings, the ones people want to follow, lead. Period.”
“Kitty’s right,” Jeff said. “If I go back to D.C. all that means is that they’ll shove me into the Bunker. We all saw the pictures the Faradawn shared—I don’t want to survive in order to see how anyone not deemed ‘important enough’ has been destroyed, since I already know it will be in one of the most horrible ways possible. If this is how we die, then it’s a far better death than to cower in a metal room while everyone else dies.”
“Then we’re all going,” Reader said.
“Nope. Because, as Chuckie said, I’m right. Always, I’m forced to add because now isn’t the time for modesty. You and Tim need to stay here with Chuckie and ensure that we get everything useful, dangerous, or compromising out of here.”
Rahmi zipped over. “We need to take that.” She pointed to V.A.R.I.S. “Kitty, that’s where everything we couldn’t find will be.”
“Rahmi’s right, Chuckie, we need to save this version of V.A.R.I.S. John can tell her to listen to you. Rahmi and I are both listening to our guts and betting the computer is hiding more than you’re going to get via the printouts.”
“I agree,” Chuckie said. “I want it at Dulce, though.”
“No argument. After moving V.A.R.I.S. you guys need to ensure that you reduce this place to rubble. You’ll all need help with that, meaning that A-Cs or those with hyperspeed have to stay.”
“Christopher, you stay here,” Jeff said.
This earned him Patented Glare #4. “Why?”
Jeff sighed. “You need to be with your family.” Christopher started to protest and Jeff shook his head. “Your children need you here.”
“Children?” Considered how stressed he’d been over Kozlow moving in and how adamant Jeff had been about Christopher not attempting the water rescue. “Oh, wow. Congrats! When’s the baby due?”
“Eight months from now. Faster than we’d planned, but we’re not complaining. But this wasn’t how we wanted to tell everyone.”
“But this is how it tends to roll for us. I’m with Jeff, you stay home. So to speak.”
“You have two children, and Siler has Lizzie. Why are you three allowed to go?”
“Someone has to stay to take care of the kids if we don’t come back,” Siler said.
“Ah. Uh. Yeah.” Christopher didn’t look happy with the reality of this answer, but he stopped arguing.
Drax trotted over. “I have good news and bad news.”
“Fantastic. We’ll take the bad news first.”
“This is not something that anyone on Earth could possibly have created, at least not without assistance, because the materials at the core are not from this solar system.”
“Super. Is that it or is there more bad news?”
“More. The core is made up of a metal found only on certain worlds in the galaxy.”
“Wow, and I’ll bet none of them are in our neighborhood.”
“No, they are not. Would you like the good news now?”
“I’d love some, yes.”
He smiled. “One of those planets is Netu.”
We all stared at him. “Yes?” I asked finally.
“Apologies. Netu is the Vrierst home world. They use large balls of this metal to power their ship. And they have spares with them.”
Now wasn’t the time to do a comparison between Drax and Wruck’s views of what constituted our galactic neighborhood. Now was the time for cautious optimism. “So, we can stick a ball into the Killer Octopus?”
“Oh, no, that won’t work. It’s too unwieldy and, frankly, more than a little unstable.”
“Just like the guy who created it.” So much for cautious optimism. “So, um, where does this leave us?”
“The Vrierst and I have agreed. We’ll have to manufacture something that’s more mobile and easier for humans to wield.”